Enter any dining hall and listen as you walk by the hot entree bar to the whining complaints about the taste, selection or quality of the food.

Indeed, there is a fair amount of dissatisfaction among students with the University cuisine, to the point that numerous undergraduates have all but began swiping their IDs at Au Bon Pain come lunchtime. But I have a humble suggestion:

Cheese.

Harvard University Dining Services (HUDS) tends to overdo many of their hot dishes. They will put together a broiled cod with pineapple chutney or a garden omelette stuffed with everything but sticky rice, when all we really want is a hardy steak or well-prepared cobb salad.

Their strengths lie within their preparation of more basic foods. It's when HUDS tries too hard constructing such meals that they make entrees that end up in the dish room.

As a result, instead of taking a chance on today's pulled pork in tartar sauce or soy marinated glazed fish, pick out some of the solid hard-to-mess-up meals, dress them up and make them taste good using your own creativity.

The best and most versatile component to HUDS' offerings is cheese--except of course if you're lactose intolerant.

The most common alternative to unattractive entrees is currently the pasta station; but after three straight meals of turning your back to General Wong, the noodles can become quite bland.

On top of the plum tomato sauce, drop a few pieces of steamed broccoli and melt some mozzarella.

If you're against gravy or would simply rather keep your heart pumping a few extra months, dab some cheddar; or do the same to your breakfast potatoes and sprinkle some bacon bits.

Throw the cold sandwich bar meats into the microwave with a slice of provolone, and you've got a turkey or tuna melt.

Stuff a little extra parmesan into those desert-dry chicken Caesar salad wraps. Lie a layer of American along the bumps of Sunday scrambled eggs.

We should be proactive in our criticism of dining services. Let HUDS do the cooking--but let students take that extra minute to construct the picture-perfect cuisine that is just beyond the chef's reach. Did somebody say "cheese"?

--Justin D. Gest